Setting

This was alright, some very useful topics on integrating setting with character emotion and theme to ground a piece of work and keep it moving at the same time. A little outdated on the research guidelines, but it was written in 1994. I tend to do most of my research online using things like Google Earth, JSTOR and local online newspapers. If I need to learn something such as the basics of dressage (not that I would!), I'd hit Google, a few related sites and then look for magazines or blogs/forums where I could interact with people. If it was something academic, I'd get an overview from basic sites from Google then I'd hit JSTOR to drill down for specifics, maybe visit a forum and speak to a few people more knowledgeable than me.
I'd show more recommend this book for a general overview of setting and how it relates to your writing, but for the research side, go with updated methods, they are faster and a lot cheaper than travelling to a town to see how it smells or to check out what colour the roof of the town hall is. show less

I have both this version and also the newer Elements of Fiction Writing book on setting (Description and Setting by Rozelle being the other version). Of the two, I found this one to be slightly more helpful in fleshing out the setting-as-a-character in my epic fantasy work. This is the older of the two, so it refers to other ways of absorbing-and-disseminating setting than the internet-research heavy newer version by Rozelle. When it comes to setting, there is nothing like being there and speaking to people who have been there to get a 'feel' for a place, I have discovered, and this book bears that bias (though once again both are useful).